The Danger Zone

(1987) The Danger Zone THRILLER/ ACTION

Six female inspired singing young hopefuls, with Heather (Suzanne Tara) the lead singer to whom they call themselves "The Skirts" make an attempt to drive on the highway toward Las Vegas for the intention of entering into a competition, only to have their car break down in the middle of nowhere. And they eventually cross paths with dope dealing bikers lead by, Reaper (Robert Canada) inhabiting a supposed ghost town.

More of a thriller than an action movie as I do not remember too much about this, as I watched this movie quite a while ago, as it is full of inconsistencies, particularly when the six girls and the only two men helping them battle it out with the bikers.

My review was written in July 1987 after watching the film on Charter Entertainment video cassette.

"The Danger Zone" is an unpretentious actioner that conjures up delights of the nonsensical biker pics that filled drive-ins nationwide two decades ago. Alas, most drive-ins are gone and those remaining play the same films as indoors, so this serviceable entry becomes merely home video fodder domestically.

Functional plotline puts a band of ornery bikers led by Reaper (Robert Canada) against a stranded group of six pretty femme singers, whose car has broken down en route to a "Celebrity Exposure" tv talent show competition being held in Las Vegas. The bikers and their molls terrorize the gals until they are saved by a combination of their own wits, a friendly prospector (Rick Nightingale) and an undercover narc who has infiltrated the gang (Jason Williams).

Blessed with a flavorful songs score, low-budgeter plays off smoothly with solid acting, especially a chilling psycho turn bby Robert Canada as Reaper which ecalls the youthful nasties esayed long ago by John Davis Chandler and Arch Hall Jr. Filmmaker/co-star Williams, best-known for his title role in "Flesh Gordon", is fun adopting the tough guy readings of a Clint Eastwood. The girls, especially wet T-shirt prone Suzanne Tara, are easy on the eye.

This movie is great. The bikies are pure evil. Reaper whips his gang members. Curtis sets his mate alight after drenching him with petrol, and PJ just mows down one of the girls on his bike. In the other corner we have aspirant girl group, the Skirts, who don't know how to fire guns, but have to fight to survive, dressed in their undies and with hair teased to the max, of course. Some hilarious scenes.

This film begins in Los Angeles with a young woman named "Heather" (Suzanne Tara) being informed that her female vocal group has just qualified for a competition in Las Vegas. Naturally, being quite excited by this news, she immediately calls her five colleagues to let them know. Not long afterward, they all pack themselves into a car and head out on the highway. Unfortunately, because the car is rather old and in serious need of maintenance, it breaks down along the way--which leaves the young ladies stranded along the side of the road in the middle of the desert. It's then that one of them spots a small town not too far in the distance and, having few other options at their disposal, they all start walking toward it. What they don't realize, however, is that this small town is controlled by a ruthless biker gang who have no regard for human life, and they are more than willing to prove it to all of these young ladies. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this could have been a halfway decent film if the writers could have come up with a better script and more competent action scenes. Since that clearly wasn't the case, I found it difficult to rate this movie any higher than I have. Slightly below average.